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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

I don’t normally report crimes that show up as lawsuits instead of going to criminal court. I make exceptions when it as case where the statute of limitations is in play. Take this case for example. Jessica Bowman claims that she was molested at age four by a boy who was 14. The molestation lasted 4 years. The boy eventually became the church youth pastor. All of this happened in 1987. That would make Bowman 29 now and the case would be way too old for criminal prosecution.

There are other factors in play, Like an alleged confession from the youth pastor. The victims only recourse is to sue somebody. But who? She’s targeted the pastor of church for failing to live up to his mandatory reporter responsibility. I think she has a strong case.

"I think he stopped molesting me when I was 8 because he realized I was getting older and he was worried I might say something, so he stopped," said Bowman.

Bowman said in 1996, she and her family went to church leaders with the allegations.

"The Four Square denomination (delete extra space between words) wrote me a letter saying, 'Sorry, and here's some money for therapy.'

The church involved is Dayspring Foursquare Church located on Terrace Way in Bakersfield, Ca.Ed Palacios is the Sr. pastor. The lawsuit identifies Damon Young as the youth pastor who assaulted Bowman.

Bowman is also asking other victims to come forward. In his interview with police the youth pastor allegedly admitted to molesting other children. There are other potential victims. Bowman is a brave woman. I hope the other victims can step forward.

While reading Reddit yesterday, I came across an article about a Chinese communist party official named Li Xingong who was caught in the act of raping girls as young as 11 year old. A subsequent investigation discovered that he had rapped about 100 other young girls. He was ultimately brought to justice through the use of social media. The similarities between the Communist Party and the Catholic church are disturbing when the abuse of children and protection of pedophiles are the common variable.

According to a report by the Youth Times (Chinese), a police raid of Li’s personal effects revealed a “large number” of condoms, lubricants and aphrodisiacs. On his personal computer were stored pornographic pictures as well as the the QQ numbers of many young girls. (QQ is a widely used chat service in China.) It is now suspected that Li Xingong may have neared 100 different victims before he was finally caught.

China’s netizens have spared no word in assailing Li Xingong and his crimes. On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, they have demanded he be sentenced to death as soon as possible, with many calling for him to be subjected to a variety of corporal and capital punishments including castration, drawing and quartering, hanging, and a variety of other brutal measures used in imperial China. They are calling him a “beast” and “human scum.”

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I watched the January interview but missed the most recent version – Joel Osteen is exactly the opposite of what I think of when I think of the word Christian. He preaches Rock Star Christianity and he’s made a fortune out of it. In the video below, Osteen calls homosexuality a sin. Piers Morgan interview was a promotional puff piece. He challenged nothing.

Bible Scholar Dr. Joel M. Hoffman published an open letter challenging Morgan. He called Morgan’s effort, “promoting bigotry and helping to perpetuate a fraud”.

Hoffman writes:

It’s both an important point and an easy one to settle. You could have asked Pastor Osteen for the chapter and verse that he thinks calls homosexuality a sin. What you would have found is that he couldn’t provide it, because Pastor Osteen was expressing his personal opinion, not quoting the Bible. The Bible doesn’t say that homosexuality is a sin.

Baptist youth pastor Carl Lloyd was sentenced to the three years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that he had sexual contact with a 15 year old female congregant.

According to our news partner, the Decatur Daily, 33 year old Carl Lloyd learned his sentence Tuesday. The allegations first came to light in late 2010. Lloyd was a youth minister at the Son Rise Baptist Church. He was dismissed from the church when the charges were filed.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Last Monday at 9:45 am I sneezed. I few second later I tasted blood in the back of my throat. I retched and ran for the bathroom where I puked a mouthful of blood into the toilet. While leaning over, blood started running out of both nostrils in a steady stream. A moment later a film of blood covered my eyes rendering me partially blind. Blood was seeping out of my tear ducts. I did not panic. I figured it was a bad bloody nose. I moved to the sink while pinching my nose. I washed my eyes clear of the blood and concentrated on trying to stop the flow of blood. After 40 minutes, I called for my wife. There was sink full of blood awaiting her. It was all over. There was was so much blood I stared to think that it was to much blood. I was feeling weak and dizzy too. I started to panic.

I went to the emergency room for the first time since I broke my leg back in 91. Two hours later I was released with the diagnosis of a posterior nosebleed. I had popped a blood vessel way back up in my nasal cavity. They packed my nose with an inflatable gauze tube. It was four inches long and inflated to twice the diameter of my nostril. It also hurt like hell and cause intense pain in my forehead and to a lesser extent, my eyes.

I spent five days on my back with an icepack on my eyes and nose. I did nothing. I was able to answer a few emails from time to time, but for the most part I simply stayed in bed and listed to music or watched Adam Richman slowly kill himself with food. Five days is a very long time.

On Friday afternoon I had the packing removed, which was pretty gross. It was like somebody pulled a wet and bloody knife out of my head. The pain went away within minutes. My doctor gave me a six-month wound care process to follow. I’m finally feeling like myself again.

What struck me as odd, even horrific, was how suddenly I went from active and healthy to completely out of it. I was in a conference call with a few of my peers just five minutes before I sneezed. I had planned on going to a doctor appointment after the conference call to have my nosed looked at. It had been bleeding in the morning over the previous three days. Not a lot of blood, but enough to get me thinking I might have an infection or something. Then bam! Out for a week. I lost a week from a damn nosebleed. I mean… what the hell?

My doctor tells me this all stemmed from a trip to Atlanta I had taken two weeks previously. I had a small nosebleed at the hotel after landing. I don’t normally get nose bleeds, so I was surprised it had happened at all. Apparently the flying, plus trips to Los Vegas and Tucson, had dried out my sinus cavity creating perfect conditions for a big bad nosebleed.

As a child of eight or nine I was a troublemaker. I acted out in school and received lots of detention as a result. Detention was different in the 1969. Administrators made me sit on the grass with my back to a structural pillar while other children enjoyed recess. …and this was outside the admin building in front of the school, which was open to the public. I became so frustrated with that particular form of punishment that I devised devious ways to punish those who were torturing me. In one case I used pugji sticks. I made them from toothpicks and bamboo skewers. I planted them around the other pillars. I don’t know if I ever actually skewered anyone. The things were pretty flimsy. It was the thought that counted. I was a mad little eight-year old.

Where did I get the idea? The Green Berets with John Wayne. I loved the film as a child and booby traps seemed like a great way to get back at annoying teachers and my sisters too. I watched the film again this weekend. It’s playing on AMC. There is a big difference between the movie I remember as a child, and the movie I saw as an adult. Frankly, I have no idea why I liked the movie. It was horrible.

Third grade was a terrible time in my young life. I was adjusting to a new stepfather. We have moved to a new house in a new city. I lost all my friends. Everything was new. Part of the move meant transferring from a bad school district to a good one. I was behind in every subject and felt stupid. My worst subject was cursive. I could not write or read in cursive. Every student in my class was a full year ahead and the teacher had no interest in teaching me the subject. She would put me outside of her class sitting by the door if I asked questions during her lessons. My frustration grew each time this happened until I fought back by peeing on her door. That’s when recess detentions started.

I know it’s 50 years to late to review The Green Berets, but I want to make a few points because your perspective changes with age and time. My eight-year old view of the movie is much different than my 50-year old view. Let’s start with the political slant – the damn movie actually promoted the war in Vietnam. It was not simple support, but over the top promotion of our involvement. The move staked out the position that America must be in the war. It was hard to stomach given what I know of the war now. It gets worse, the acting was silly. American Green Berets run though a field like fairies out to tend their magic garden. It was so unmilitary as to be ludicrous. It gets worse. Battle scenes went something like this: Bad guys line up over here. Good guys line up there. Now shoot at each other. Plus, I could swear that at points in the movie, like when Charlie overruns Dodge City, the soundtrack came from old westerns when the Indians would win a battle; complete with the war woops and all.

I was shocked at the lack of Vietnamese people in a movie about Vietnam. Heck, even the archenemy was a white actor made to look Vietnamese. Japanese and Chinese actors played all key roles. Most of the extras were brown skinned people, but non-Vietnamese. When you add in the fact that the majority of the film was put together in Georgia, which is decidedly not a tropical location, I had trouble believing that anybody would mistake the movie for a production about Vietnam.

The booby traps were childlike. I mean seriously childlike. They was almost as unbelievable as John Wayne surviving the helicopter crash with no injuries. The wall of spikes that killed SGT Peterson made me laugh. The trap actually whisked away the leaves covering the spikes before he was impaled on them… Who would do that?

We all know that the Green Berets are special forces. The movie shows them as barely trained boobs. SGT Peterson is a great example. His only skill is scrounging. He received zero training pre-deployment. Yet he was in every mission, functioning in a “highly trained” Green Beret unit. How did anyone come away thinking he Green Beret’s were special?

The final blow and biggest plot hole… the suicide mission involving the new commander of the Green Berets in Vietnam (John Wayne). Did anyone seriously think that a senior officer would lead a mission like that? No planning. No support. No special weapons. No intelligence assets. No exit strategy. Just put your head down and dive right in. It made the Green Berets look like untrained foot soldiers and their command a reckless fool. Plus, a retirement aged administrative officer would not be leading a rescue mission. They order others to do the dirty work. The whole movie was a joke.

I’m adding The Green Berets to my list of top ten worst movies. At least I learned about booby traps, although I’m sure I was meant to learn something different.

It is not in the scope of his duty to report child molesters to the authorities??

It is not in the scope of his duty to pass on information to anyone outside the church officials?

It is not even in the scope of his duty to inform the PARENTS of the possibility that their children might be in danger? (he interviewed the children, but did not pass on the danger that he discovered during those interviews)

Sunday, May 13, 2012

I read a story on Reddit about a Catholic high school refusing to play in a baseball final because a girl was on the apposing team. My first thought was, “Is this a story from the 1950s?”

Our Lady of Sorrows, a fundamentalist Catholic school in Phoenix, chose to forfeit the championship final rather than play against Mesa Preparatory Academy, because the school has a 15-year-old girl Paige Sultzbach on their team.

"Our school aims to instil in our boys a profound respect for women and girls. Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we choose not to place them in an athletic competition where proper boundaries can only be respected with difficulty."

A helpful redditor offered this clarification.

Just wanted to clarify: this is NOT a Catholic school. It's a Society of St Pius X (SSPX) school. SSPX is not recognized by the "official" Catholic church, nor by the Pope, and they are generally acknowledged (among actual Catholics) as being troublemakers at best. I just wanted to clarify this because the title of this post is misleading.

I’d assume that a Catholic school not recognized by the pope makes it a Catholic cult. I’m not sure which piece of news I find more disturbing, a wrong-headed religious decision, or the discovery, for me anyway, of another cult. I know so little about religion, nor do I understand it well.

To me, Horst Faas was the photographer who put a human face on the Vietnam War. I can remember a one-eyed high school teacher showing me a photo of a woman morning over the body of her husband. I first saw it in the 70s. It has haunted my dreams for years. When I think of the Vietnam War, the first image that comes to mind is this one

I was browsing a book on the war a few weeks ago. It contained a number of his photos; Including this one. Seeing it again evoked an emotional response. I could feel the woman’s grief. I stood looking at it for long time. Photos that pull on your emotions are rare. Faas produced dozens in his career.

Few people understand the impact Faas had on photography. He’s recruited and trained dozens of photographers during his time in Vietnam. Including the man who took the war’s most iconic photo.

My's younger brother, Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, followed his brother at AP and under Faas's tutelage won one of the news agency's six Vietnam War Pulitzer Prizes, for his iconic 1972 picture of a badly burned Vietnamese girl fleeing an aerial napalm attack.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

I flew to Atlanta this week for a technical conference. Once I arrived, I took the MARTA's red line from the airport to Peachtree Center in the downtown area. It’s a short trip and saved my employer a car rental fee. Along the route, a lot of people got on the train. It was 5:00 pm. A group of kids entered at the Lakewood stop and started to jostle a rider at the back of the car. It reminded me of Gypsies in Paris. A fat old lady yelled, “Pick pockets.” She pointed at the kids with a flabby black arm (with perfect nails). I expected them to be mobbed and arrested or something, instead at least 25 riders raised cellphones and shot video. The kids hid their faces under shirts and hats. The did their best to avoid showing any part of the face to the people on the train. They jumped off at the next stop followed by a few passengers holding cellphones up to record their flight. The doors eventually closed. The people riding with me went back to doing whatever they were doing before. The fat woman muttered, “Stupid kids.” I smiled.

Former Baptist youth pastor Brian Brijbag, profiled here, entered a no contest plea to a lessor charge child abuse, ending his trail for having sexual relations with a 17-year old female congregant. Brijbag is also alleged to have engaged in a sexual relationship with an 18-year old girl.

Brijbag was the youth pastor at First Baptist Church of Booksville. He is married with three children. The plea deal allows him to avoid prison and the sex offender registry.

As part of his plea agreement, Brian Brijbag, 36, will serve three years probation, undergo sex offender counseling, pay a $964 fine and have no contact with his accuser.

This story posted on May 11th. This morning an anonymous poster dropped the following comment in Blogger’s comments. (I moved it to Intense Debate).

I am sorry but your article seems very ignorant. I do not know this man at all but I do believe he is innocent. The 17 year old said they did not have sex and after 4 hours of being objectified by a law enforcement officer (who is now fired and has been arrested for nonrelated sexual charges), she confessed but with extreme restraint. Please educate yourself fully on a matter before you post something as hateful as this article.

This comment does not ring true to me, does it to you? Whoever made it is trying to point blame away from Brijbag and towards the victim. Who would do that except for somebody involved in the case?

Sunday, May 06, 2012

It is when Wiley Drake does it. Remember him? He prayed for God to kill president Obama back in 2009. Now he’s been arrested for loitering outside the White House. He claims to have been praying for Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, His excuse makes little sense unless God listens to prayers based on where they are offered. I guess the fence in front of the White House is prime prayer real estate then.

The only reason Drake prayed in public for Chen Guangchen is publicity. What does the bible say about praying in public?

Matthew 6:1-34 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward

And

Matthew 6:6 - But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Now that seems pretty clear, right? Wiley Drake may not actually be a Christian if he so blatantly prays in violation of the word of God. Perhaps he’s one of those other things… a Republican.

I do a few book reviews here on Deep Thoughts. It’s not something I push much, because of the time commitment involved, but I’m about to change that as I plan to do more. I’m starting with a small self-published book called The Atheist’s guide to discussion with Catholics by James Clark. It’s $2.99 on Amazon.

Mr. Clark organizes 50 different topics into a discussion discussion guide that uses plain English and easy to understand explanations to cover various aspects in Catholicism and Christianity. I found the book an easy read, and interesting. The target audience is a person who is not well versed in religion, the bible, or theology.

Topics covered include:

Epicurean Paradox

We would not have moral guidance without God

Bible Contradiction

Purgatory

Noah’s Ark

Pedophilia

Witch hunts

This book is not a deep tome, nor does it cover it’s subjects in detail. Consider it a mostly accurate summary of the subjects covered from an Atheist’s perspective. It’s short, at 33 pages, with most sections are just a few paragraphs long. If you are unfamiliar with Catholicism, this book will give a few good discussion points and prime you for a deeper dive.

The history behind this book is fascinating. James Clark was born in Jijeka, Croatia to a atheist father and and slightly theist mother. Clark was taught as a boy to think for himself. Since Croatia is mostly Christian, Clark cataloged his thoughts and ideas so that he could use them when talking to Christians. This book is the first 50 topics and was translated to English from Clark’s native Croatian. The next 50 topics are pending.

Saturday, May 05, 2012

I found Andy Warhol on the side of a building on North Cahuenga in Hollywood today. My son and I were off for a dude’s day at Amoeba, Hennessy and Ingles, and then Umami Burger. We had a blast, and then hurried home for video games.

My son asked why I take my camera with me when we go out. I explained that it’s like hunting. I’m looking for photos the way a hunter looks for prey. If I don’t have a camera, I can’t shoot my prey.

Today I shot three pieces of street art, one graffiti, a girl with tattoos, and several photos of cops on three-wheeled patrol carts. As usual, I only like one or two photos in post edit.

Tapia's coworkers said they found chats with an individual representing a 16-year-old boy from Argentina. They also claim to have found photographs of young boys with exposed genitalia.

In March, the FBI searched Tapia's computer at Excel Learning Center and found pictures that appeared to be of children between the ages of 12 and 13 with their genitals exposed.

Yet, this man’s alleged crimes did not stop his supporters from showing up in court. 10 people were hoping he would be released because he is nice guy and no threat to the community at all. The judge ruled Tapia should be locked up. I’m sure the citizens of El Paso are pleased.

"He was a real professional gentleman, always on time" said Robert Chavez.

Tapia appears to have admitted to at least some of the crimes, which is rare in these types of cases because the penalties are so high. Perhaps he will do the right thing here and take responsibility for his alleged crimes. You never know.

Friday, May 04, 2012

I blow most comments off, even when they attack me. On the other hand, sometimes I feel compelled to share. This comment was left in reference to Hands that pray also prey, a post about alleged sexual groper and Christian Karl VanderWoude.

Anonymous said...What a bunch of hate mongers you all are. Turns out the guy is INNOCENT. I think the crazy people are the ones pushing hate out into the world and spreading these horrible accusations about an innocent man. Instead of posting your hate and moving on I hope a few of you scumbags keep up to date with this and write a blog about how horrible you feel about being such a douche-bag. And screw you, the less evil people in the world (who else would read your trash blog) that know my name, the better.

This was followed by a personal attack. I get lots of these. Why did I choose Deep Thoughts as a name? I love Jack Handy.

It’s easy enough to guess your name Karl. I get that you are pissed about the press and blog coverage of your story. However, as of the time I write this, the only evidence I have that you might be innocent are your assertions.

There are no stories suggesting that you are innocent. When (if) these hit the press, I will post them. If you are not the Well-Dressed Grouper, then I’ll be happy to offer you a guest post here on my blog (See the FAQ).

Do I think you are guilty? It really does not matter, does it? My opinion is meaningless. I did not even express an opinion in my original piece. Nope… I was snarky about your arrest, but neutral on your guilt or innocence.

I must admit that my appreciation of the Beastie Boys awoke late in life. I was not a fan in the 80s, but the 90s was a different story. My son Jon played them around the house all the time, I learned to like them, and then to love them. This song, So What cha Want, is my favorite. RIP MCA

Don Henley sang those words a long time ago, yet, the still stick in my mind. They go through my head every time I see an ixthus sticker on the back of a $70K BMW. I saw one today, it was a metal symbol in gold attached to the trunk. Would Jesus own a BMW? More importantly, would or should one of his followers own a BMW? It seems completely inconsistent with is core message, so why do it unless you were your religion like clothing?

Ronald Asplund was a volunteer youth coordinator at Oak Harbor Lutheran Church. He’s been arrested for the alleged rape of two boys. It’s not his first dance either, there were similar allegations six years ago.

The police started investigating the case last week after a woman reported that Asplund had violated a court order barring him from contacting her 13-year-old son. An officer found that Asplund had given the boy a cell phone; the officer found that it contained sex-related text messages from Asplund.

Investigators soon discovered that Asplund had been molesting both the 13-year-old boy and his 14-year-old friend, according to the report by Detective James Hoagland. Asplund later admitted to the allegations in an interview with the detective, the report states.

What I found most disturbing about this case was the allegation that one of the rapes occurred during a church lock-in event. That’s were youth pastors lock kids in the church gym all night for some kind of religious ritual, or what I call, pastors special play time. Oak Harbor says it has a strict policy about adults being alone with children, and then it creates an environment where abuse can happen. That seems a little short sighted and disingenuous.

Rule 14… never let kid sleep overnight in the church gym with the youth pastor.

Gonzalez said yesterday that the growing number of victims are making up their stories in a bid go after the fortune of London's former benefactor, Elizabeth "B.J." Huizenga Buntrock. As reported here recently, the very wealthy Buntrock, cousin of mogul H. Wayne Huizenga, financed London's homes and vehicles and founded the Eagle Academy Charter School in Lauderdale Lakes where he was made dean of students.

I don’t think this defense will pass scrutiny. The scheme too complex for children to have come up with it, and, how are the kids supposed to get rich from this?

In other news, text messages show that London liked to molest his victims while they played videogames.

After one boy asks in a text if he can play the "Call of Duty" video game, a text sent from London's phone asks to perform a sexual act on the boy while he plays.

It’s pretty sick stuff. London’s defense attorney is playing the text messages off as a conspiracy by the victims. I understand why people hate lawyers.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

The thing about Las Vegas is that behind the scenes, the city is pretty brutal. This man sleeps beneath a bridge in front of New York, New York. A thousand people pass him by every hour. Few people pay him any attention. There were dozens of men and woman just like him hidden here and there. You just needed to look.

I watched two cops talk to a homeless man on a walkway over the Strip near the new Cosmopolitan hotel. They were so nice. It was like watching a movie. They even warned the man to stay out of the sun and gave him water. The only thing was, well, they were being filmed for Cops (or something like it). Las Vegas is a show. It’s all for show.

Pastor Ron Burning, profiled here, was convicted on 13 of 14 charges. He faces life in prison… twice over. Burning was a Baptist pastor who was arrested crossing an international border between the USA and Canada. It is widely believed he was attempting to flee his crimes.

Burning, pastor of Johnsfield Baptist Church, was found guilty on three counts of sexual assault, four charges of indecent assault, sexual intercourse with someone under the age of 14, forcible confinement, indecent assault, voyeurism, criminal harassment, indecent assault and gross indecency. These charges, some committed on men and some on women, related to incidents that took place between 1971 and 2009.

There is another story here. Burning was a missionary for the Old Time Baptist church (OTBC) for 12 years. That’s ample time to perpetuate his form of Christianity. There is also his link to OTBC’s school administrator Pastor Robert Piwowar, who murdered his wife and hid her body. I’m thinking OTBC might not be a happy place.

OTBC is silent. Nothing on the blog. No press releases. It’s as if they want to bury their association with Burning. I listened to a few sermons there is nothing there either. There are questions to answer.

Why did they stand by Burning? Did they know of the abuse allegations? Did they report allegations? Were there allegations from Burning’s missionary work? What about their duty of car as mandatory reporters? The questions are endless, but so is the silence.

It was 8:45 am on the Las Vegas strip when I shot this photo. This young man is about to make a few bad life choices. Will it be porn, prostitutes or beer?.

You see all types in Las Vegas. It really is an interesting place to watch people. For every homeless person sleeping in the shadows, there is a bachelorette party staggering back to hotels, or it could be a tourist from Maine shopping for trinkets. I could shoot all day.

I talked to a Christian woman today at lunch. She wanted to know how I felt about lying. I told her that I find liars intolerable. It seemed like common sense to me. If you are a liar, you are not to be trusted. She went on to ask about white lies. I told her that white lies are a necessary social lubricant. Everyone tells white lies, except for some people I know with Asperger Syndrome. She was shocked and claimed that she never told white lies… I knew she was lying though, because she had complemented me earlier in the day on losing weight when I know my ass is still enormous…. just saying.

It's funny though. People cannot be honest about lying because it paints an un-Chirst like picture in the eyes of others. Of course they tell white lies. Everyone does. But admitting to a lie puts your soul at risk. Does that make any sense?

Take this one, 'Your hair looks nice today honey." When you are judged, God will call our your lie, call you a sinner and then cast your ass in a lake of fire… for a white lie? ..but not if you've asked forgiveness first, but what if you forget some small transgression? How does that work again?
Oh wait… it does not work. That's why i'm on the A-Team.